New Face
by writer4ever1995
Summary: I suck at these things. Anyway. A new paramedic comes to station 51 to join Roy and Johnny. Oh, wait...there's a catch. She's a girl. Rating for "minor" language in the 5th chapter. NOTE: Not historically correct.
1. Chapter 1

NOTE:

I want to say this first off. I now know that there were no female firefighters or firefighter-paramedics in the time frame that Emergency was set. I realize that. So therefore I know this story is not historically or politically correct. If you would rather read one that is, I suggest you skip this story. I just really wanted to write a story about a female firefighter coming to Station 51. It sounded like a good plot, even if it wouldn't be correct historically. This is just a warning. ;-) Thank you if you choose to continue to read this story.

* * *

Chapter One:

Kelly Brackett turned from the large green chalkboard and looked at the ten paramedic students who were completing their final exams before being placed at a station. He smiled, ever so softly, as he considered each one. They had all completed their one-day training sessions with other paramedic units all over LA about two weeks ago.

Daniel Martin had gone with Squad 51. While Kel didn't like to play favorites, he had to admit that Daniel was the best one out of the class. He was sharp, knew his stuff, but wasn't stuck-up about it like Craig Brice was. While Brice was a good P/M, he tended to go a little overboard every once in a while.

His eyes continued to drift over the class, and then he stopped, biting the inside of his lip as he considered the student who sat in the far back on the right. Joy Harris. The first woman to have ever made it to the final exam paramedic training in LA county. There had been a couple other women who had applied, but they had all chickened out after being in the field with training for a day. Joy had gone with Squad 57 for her field day. He knew they had given her a lot of flack and had not let her help out as much as she should, but she had taken her post-field day test and passed with flying colors. Joy had gotten a lot of flack from the nine men in the class as well. They all expected her to fail. Kel admitted to himself he had had the same feelings at the beginning, but after a sharp talking-to from Dixie, and watching Joy work, he realized she was as good as any man in the field.

The buzzer startled him out of his reverie and the paramedic-trainees all sat up instantly and turned their test papers over. Brackett shut the buzzer off and smiled at his class. "Good job, everyone. I'll let you know the results tomorrow. Um, Harris, can you gather up the papers?"

Joy instantly stood up and quietly gathered up all the papers. Kel sadly noticed that several of the men gave her goofy looks as she took their tests, but she steadfastly ignored them and presented the papers to Kelly with a smile and not a twitch of a grimace or anger. Kel had to give her credit for her self-control.

"You're dismissed." Kelly said, and watched as the students streamed out of the room.

Joy Harris was just barely containing herself. She knew all the guys in the room disliked her, and the fact of it was driving her crazy. She had taken so many backwashes from everyone…well, almost everyone, Dr. Brackett was nice and Dixie understood, but all the firemen and paramedics she had been with were treating her like dirt. She knew she just had to give it time, let them get used to her, and be able to prove herself, but it almost made her reconsider. She had been a firefighter at the small station up in the hills…Station 232. It was in LA County…barely. There were three men, herself, the captain, and an old dog named Stan. They were lucky if they got a run a day.

But then, there was a fire and a man died because the closest squad was thirty miles away. She had decided then and there that she was going to become a paramedic. She knew that she would be leaving 232 and it would be hard because all those guys were used to her and she would be going out into the big city, and the real world.

When she had first applied, the LA chief told her that it was highly unlikely she would get placed in a two-man squad because frankly, he didn't think she had the stuff to co-man a whole district. She said that was fine. She would be a third person in a squad. She just wanted to help people, to be able to save a life to make up for the one they had lost.

"Hey." Dix grabbed Joy's arm and gently pulled her into the break room. "How'd it go?"

Joy sighed as Dixie filled a mug with the warm black liquid and handed it to her. "Okay, I guess. Dr. Brackett is so nice. He and you are the only reasons I don't just quit the whole thing right now."

"That makes me feel special." Dixie grinned, and rubbed her shoulder. "You're doing well. I talked to Kel…Dr Brackett last night and he thinks you are going to be one of the top students."

"One of. No one could beat out Dan Martin. He's the best. And he's the only one who treats me with a little bit of respect. I still get the feeling he doesn't think I can take it, but at least he doesn't treat me like a doormat." Joy sipped the coffee.

"You just give it some time." Dix comforted. "It'll take a little bit before they will get used to you. But I've seen you work. You can save a person's life, and some."

Joy nodded. "Do you mind if I sit in here a little while? My mom's garden club is meeting this afternoon. And I know none of them approve of me and they don't resort to goofy looks…they just say straight out they think I'm really stupid. They should be gone by four o'clock and its three thirty now."

"Sure, go ahead." Dix stood. "I have to get back to work, or someone's going to be calling me names." She patted Joy on the shoulder and headed out of the room.

Joy set her coffee mug on the table and stood, smoothing out her blue shirt and navy blue pants that still marked her as a firefighter.

As she turned to look out the window, she slipped so deep into thought she jumped when she heard the door open and suddenly there were voices in the room.

"Oh, sorry." One of the firefighters who walked in said. "Didn't know anyone…"

His voice slowed as he looked at her a little bit more carefully.

Joy braced herself. _Here it comes._

"You're a fireman?" The dark-haired one looked at her incredulously. "I mean, well, a firefighter?"

Biting back a sarcastic response, Joy placed a well-rehearsed smile on her face and stuck out her hand. "Joy Harris, Firefighter, Station 232."

Dark-Hair slowly shook his head. "Oh. Uh, John Gage, Firefighter-Paramedic, Station 51."

"Pleasure." Joy nodded.

"Roy DeSoto…same as him." The other fireman shook her hand as well. "232, that's up in the hills, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Joy nodded, suddenly realizing that her mother's garden club didn't seem half bad. "I'm…I'm in Paramedic training."

John's mouth opened a little wider, but Roy didn't lose his presence of mind. "Oh, really. That's nice."

Joy twitched. _'That's Nice'_. She thought. _I bet if I was a man he wouldn't be saying that to me._

"Where are you in the program?" DeSoto asked her again. Gage still looked rather stunned.

"Just completed final exams." Joy grinned, hoping it didn't look too fake.

"Really?" Roy was obviously surprised. "I didn't realize…I mean…I mean, that must be quite an accomplishment. I mean, you know, no other woman…I mean…"

"No other woman in LA County has ever completed the Paramedic Training Program past the field day." Joy nodded. "I know. Listen, it was nice meeting you guys, but I have to get going. See you later." She quickly scooted out of the room.

Roy watched as the young woman hurriedly made her exit, and realized what a dope he had probably sounded like. "That's nice." He repeated to himself. "I bet she's heard that one enough."

"Wow." Johnny looked first at the door, and then at Roy. "I can't believe that girl. She's like…amazing!"

"You sure were friendly to her." Roy said, glancing at him at as he picked up Joy's discarded coffee cup from the side table and placed it in the sink.

"I couldn't help it. She's a firefighter! And a paramedic, or at least, going to be in the next couple days. A girl! And a cute girl, no less."

"John."

Johnny glanced at Roy.

"Do not get mixed up with that girl. For your sake, do not ask her out. For my sake, do not even try to get her phone number." Roy shook his head. "I've seen that look in her eyes before. It's the look of a woman who's a woman in a man's business and who's got a lot of backwash and flack from it, and she's got a chip on her shoulder that big." Roy held his hands out about a foot apart.

"That's certainly antiquated of you." Johnny looked at him.

"I'm not saying its wrong she's in a man's business, but I'm saying that other men think that it is, and that they're treating her like heck because of it. For your own sake, I wouldn't try and rub up to her or anything."

"Hm." Johnny looked at the door again. "Alright, fine. But I'm going to go talk to Dix and see if she knows anything more about that girl."

"Alright, fine. But just don't get involved with her." Roy warned him.

"Okay, okay!" Johnny held up his hands, and pushed open the door and headed for the nurse's station.

"Hey, guys!" Dixie greeted them with a smile.

"Hey, so do you know anything about that new paramedic?" Johnny launched right in.

"I assume you're talking about the girl." Dix said; a saucy look on her face.

"No, I'm talking about Dan Martin." Johnny glared at her. "Of course I'm talking about the girl. Joy Harris."

"Let me tell you this. I've talked to her a lot. She's cried on my shoulder once. And I know on _her_ shoulder there's a chip for firemen. All the guys in her class, except, maybe for Dan Martin, treat her like dirt."

"Told you." Roy muttered in Johnny's ear before moving behind the desk and pouring himself another cup of coffee.

"When she went out on her training field day, the paramedics at station 57 hardly let her do anything. And went they went on a structure fire response, the captain barely let her out of the squad. I know he was trying to protect her, but she knows the risks and she has to do her job." Dix took a folder from a nurse who was passing by.

"Wow." Johnny looked rather subdued. "I think I'll take Roy's advice on that one."

Roy spun around. "What did you say?"

Johnny looked confused. "I just said I would take your advice."

"Dixie get a doctor, I think this man is ill." Roy stared at John with all serious.

"Get out of here." Johnny smacked him on the shoulder and Roy's cup of coffee lurched forward and splashed all over the white tile floor.

Johnny froze, glancing down at the floor and then quickly back at Roy.

Roy was glaring at Johnny with a look that could turn the coffee on the floor to ice.

"I'll get a towel." John quickly said, making a fast getaway.


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry this took a while to get up. Didn't have much time to write. __I think this going to be a pretty short story…maybe only 4 or 5 chapters long._

* * *

Chapter Two

"The firefighters assembled in this room have been called here for a very special purpose." Chief Martin looked at each face in the room. "You have all completed the paramedic training program and have become licensed paramedics. You have already been informed of your new stations. I will now call you up one by one to receive your badges and certificates." Martin started with the A's and worked his way down.

Joy's forefinger scraped the side seam of her navy blue pants for the umpteenth time, and thought back to the previous day, when she had been given her assignment. Station 51. Who would have figured. Chief Martin had been correct when telling her three months ago that she wouldn't get placed in a 2-man squad. She was the third person…she couldn't help thinking, the third _wheel_, and working with the same two men she had met in the breakroom at Rampart.

"Joy Harris."

Joy instantly stood and made her way to the front of the room. "Congratulations." The Chief gave her a look that Joy couldn't tell if it was proud or disappointed. He shook her hand and then handed her the rolled certificate and badge. She smiled, and then went out the side door.

* * *

"I can't believe we're getting a girl." Johnny slammed his mug down on the table. "A girl on our paramedic team. And a 5'2", 110 pound one, no less."

"You could tell that just by looking at her?" Roy glanced askance at her.

Johnny glared at him. "I looked up her file at the hospital. Full name, Joy Elizabeth Harris. Born June 13th, 1953. She's 19, Roy. Nineteen!"

"You can join the department at age 18." Roy pointed out.

"I know, but she's just a baby!" Johnny shook his head, and Roy chuckled. John continued, counting off on his fingers. "She's five foot, two inches tall. She weighs a measly 110 pounds. I bet if she was running with the line, she'd get blown away when it was charged."

"She probably trained for that! Where was she born?" Roy sat down at the table.

"Vista, California, a tiny, one-horse town, born, raised and lived there until six months ago when she came to LA to join the paramedic program."

"Vista is in the LA County. Why didn't she just become a paramedic down there?"

"I don't know." Johnny shrugged. "The closest hospital's an hour away from Vista; a paramedic might do some good. Maybe the sheriff didn't want P/M's in his town."

"Hello?" A feminine voice called from the doorway.

"Oh." John quickly lurched over to greet the new paramedic.

Roy more slowly stood and shook his head. Even with all his grumbling, a girl was a girl to Johnny, whether a firefighter or not.

"Hi, there."

"Hi yourself." Joy smiled at him. "Isn't it funny…us running into each other at Rampart and then turns out I'm going to be joining your crew."

"Yeah, hilarious." Johnny grinned, and then bit his lip. He sounded so sarcastic.

"Listen, I hope there aren't any hard feelings." Joy's face hardened almost imperceptibly, but Johnny caught it. "I know how you must feel having a girl invade your private station."

"Hey, even if we did have hard feelings, which we don't, it's not your fault. You go where the chief sends you." Roy shrugged.

"Right." Johnny nodded, quickly.

"Did I hear someone…?" Captain Stanley's head poked out from his office and then he noted the woman. "Ah, Joy Harris."

"Captain Stanley. It's a pleasure." Joy firmly shook the Capt's hand, and Stanley was pleased to see that she had a firm grip and a strong arm.

"Likewise, Joy. I'm glad to hear you're joining our team." Stanley lowered his voice. "Listen, I haven't told the rest of the guys yet. I know you might think it's a little cruel, but we are always playing little jokes on each other. I though it might be kind of funny to spring you on them."

Joy's cheekbone contracted, but she forced a smile. "Of course. I understand. A girl at a fire station is quite a surprise, isn't it?"

Stanley was too preoccupied to catch the edge to her voice but Roy and Johnny heard it, loud and clear. Johnny tried to quickly catch the captain before he headed into the locker room to get the rest of the guys to come out, but the captain was enjoying his turn to pull a prank.

"Listen, we're sorry." Roy touched Joy's shoulder gently and then quickly withdrew it when she automatically tensed under his touch. "We didn't know he was going to do that. The Cap isn't normally like that."

"It's alright, really. I'm used to it." Joy pushed past both men and stepped into the kitchen, placing her bag down on one of the chairs and glancing around until she found the pot of coffee. She poured herself a mug and leaned against the counter nonchalantly, as if this sort of thing happened all the time.

Roy wasn't too sure it didn't.

Joy thanked her lucky stars that her father, an ex-marine, had forced her to learn to control her feelings as a youngster. That was the only reason she was not either attacking somebody or turning into a blubbery mess. As the warm coffee ran down her throat, she braced herself for what was coming.

"So the new guy is here?" A man's voice was heard from outside the kitchen.

"I'll say." Joy whispered under her breath, setting her mug down on the counter.

"What's he like?"

"Do you think we can get him to do the dishes?"

"Maybe if we tell him it's some sort…of…"

The last man speaking had dark curly hair and a mustache. He had just stepped through the doors and caught sight of the woman in the firefighter's uniform. "Holy smokes."

Joy smiled delicately at the shocked fireman. "Hi."

"Ouch!" The next fireman ran right into the first one, who Joy noted had "Kelley" on his nametag. "What are you doing, Chet?" This one had a notable Spanish accent. His hair was black and his skin was medium brown. Then he noted the young woman and pushed past Chet to get a better look.

"So are you all just going to stand there goggle eyed or do I get an introduction?" Joy said pointedly after a third fireman ran into Chet as well.

"Oh. Sure." Johnny hopped to the bat and pointed. "Chester Kelley, or Chet, Marco Lopez, Engineer Mike Stoker, and then you know the Cap."

Captain Stanley had come up behind the three men and was enjoying their shock. "Didn't I tell you? She's a lady."

"I'll say." Chet said, and then quickly attempted to cover. "I mean, it's a pleasure, ma'am, to have you on our team."

"Thanks, Chet, but one thing. Don't ever. Ever. Call me 'ma'am'." Joy again plastered a fake smile on her face and shook Chet's hand. Marco was next, and he weakly smiled and shook her hand back. Mike Stoker seemed to have a little less surprise, but Joy got the feeling he rarely got very worked up about anything. Stoker shook her hand, and nodded politely.

"So you're here to stay?" Chet was still staring at her. "I mean, permanently?"

"Well, as long as permanently continues, yeah, I'm here to stay." Joy stared right back at him and Chet broke his gaze quickly.

An awkward silence descended on the room and Roy finally broke it with a "Well…"

The loud ring of the station alarm sounded through the station. It was followed by several more pitches.

The firefighters jogged out of the rec room. Joy grabbed her helmet and turnout coat from where she had tossed it on her way in, and climbed into the squad next to Roy. Several stations were called, and then…

_Structure fire at the chemical plant. 432 Bay Street. 432 Bay Street. _

"Station 51, KMG365." The Captain acknowledged HQ and then passed a piece of paper with the fire information to Roy, who handed it over Joy to John, who had just climbed in.

Roy started up the engine of the squad, and it led the engine out onto the street.

The siren filled in the blanks of conversation inside the cab of the squad, which was becoming slightly awkward until, without warning, a huge explosion sounded from off in the distance and the ground shook. Roy's hands clutched the wheel a little tighter as he slowed down.

"What the heck was that?" Joy asked, leaning forward. "Whoa."

John leaned forward as well, and gaped at the huge mushroom cloud that was ballooning up.

Captain Stanley's voice came over the CB. "LA, this is Engine 51. We have an explosion. Request second alarm assignment, repeat, request second alarm assignment."

_Engine 51_. The dispatcher replied. The sounds of the second alarm assignment being buzzed sounded on the radio, followed by the dispatcher's voice.

"Let's get going." Roy gave it the gas and the squad sped up.

* * *

Joy made an almost imperceptible squeak as they pulled up into the fenced-in parking lot of the chemical plant. Flaming balloons of fire were bursting from different places over the plant campus. "This is gonna be fun." Roy said, sliding out of the cab.

Joy shrugged her new turnout coat on and fastened it up the front. Johnny pointedly tucked her blue collar into the coat. Joy glared at him, and jammed the helmet on her head as she grabbed the black IV case. "We'll set up over here." Roy pointed, jogging over to an empty spot in the parking lot that would be out of the way of the alarm

assignment. "I have a feeling we're going to have some injured firefighters."

Johnny laid a yellow sterilization sheet down on the blacktop, and started opening up the cases for easy access.

Joy put a bottle of saline on the top of the IV case since saline was often a necessity in chemical fires.

"Why don't you lay out a second sheet, Johnny? Now that we've got Joy we can work on 2 patients at once." Roy grinned at her.

Joy smiled back. At least Roy was giving her a chance.

Johnny laid out a second sheet without a second glance, and then looked over to where three more engines were pulling on the other side of the lot. The engine already had two lines to the fire and was keeping a safe distance as they wet it down.

"Hey, hey!" A security guard came running toward the squad. He was covered in black soot and his uniform was ripped in several places. He was cradling his left arm. "Are you guys the paramedics?"

"Yes, sir." Johnny stood and led the guard over to one of the sheets, and gently inspected the man's arm.

"No, no, wait, don't bother with me. It's Jim. I couldn't get him out." The man gasped and winced as Johnny gently turned his burned arm over. Joy knelt down next to him. "Where is he?"

"In the security office. The fire isn't there yet, but when the explosion went off, he hit his head. I couldn't get him out…he's a little pudgy you know." The man winced. "I got burned on my way out. I figured you guys could go in and get him since the fire wasn't there yet."  
"Where's the security office?" Joy asked.

"Over there." The guard pointed with his good arm. "To the left of the plant." Joy nodded, and pushed herself to her feet, jogging over to Stanley, who was still beside the engine, deploying the other stations as they filed in. "Captain!"

Stanley turned around, instantly.

"The security guard says that there's still a man in the security office. It's not in danger of fire, at least not now. It's to the left of the plant, about 100 yards." Joy pointed in the general direction where the man had pointed.

"Alright, thanks." Stanley touched her arm, and then jogged over to one of the other engines, speaking loudly to the captain.

Joy walked quickly back to the squad, shrugging off her turnout coat as she went. Johnny was finishing up the burn pack for the guard's arm, and showed him where he could sit while waiting for the ambulance.

A red car pulled up into the parking lot and Stanley jogged over to it.

"Battalion Chief." Johnny said as he picked up the trash leftover from treating the burned arm.

Joy nodded.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air.

* * *

_Doncha just love cliff hangers? I promise, I promise the next chapter will be here shortly. Hopefully tomorrow. I'll have all afternoon to work on it._

* * *

_**A couple disclaimer notes:**_

_**1. I don't really know how paramedic graduations worked back then. Don't act shocked, but I've never actually seen the pilot episode of Emergency because I watched them all on Netflix instant watch and the pilot's not on there (it's disc only). So I don't know if there's a scene in there where the paramedics graduate or not. **_

_**2. I had a little bit of trouble describing the fire / surrounding area. I'm not good with that sort of hting, nor with medical knowledge and lingo, so bear with me on that note.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_K, hope this conclusion to the cliffhanger was good enough for ya'll! :-)_

_Apologies if my medical lingo wasn't accurate…I don't remember it very well from the shows._

* * *

Chapter Three

All three paramedics leapt to their feet and searched, looking for the source of the scream.

"Look." John pointed and took an automatic step forward.

A man, half-drenched in flames was running from what Joy believed was the general direction of the security office.

"Oh, god." The other guard who was resting on the back of the squad, stood and stepped up next to the P/M's. "It's Jim."

Some of the firefighters; Joy couldn't tell which ones from this distance; turned their lines on the burning man. After the water finally dissipated, Joy watched almost in frozen surprise, as the man stumbled around and then collapsed on the water-soaked concrete.

Captain Stanley hollered over his shoulder for Desoto, and Roy pushed past them and ran to help the captain drag the man away from the flaming building.

"Help me." John spoke swiftly to Joy. She instantly turned away from the grotesquely mesmerizing sight of the charred man, and knelt next to Johnny, helping him stretch out the yellow plastic sterilization sheet.

After laying it out, John picked up the biophone. "Rampart, this is squad 51."

"Rampart here, go ahead." Dixie's feminine voice came over the line.

"We have a 2nd victim, Rampart. Condition unknown as of now. Presumed second and third degree burns. Stand by."

"Standing by, 51." It was Doctor Early's voice now.

Roy and Captain Stanley were nearing now. Joy moved out of the way, and fought the annoying reflex to throw up when she the blackened man was laid down. He was burned on front and back. "Lay him down on his stomach. His back has third degree burns, but from what I can tell his front is mainly second degree."

John handed him a sterilization towel to wipe the grime off his hands, and then went to work. It was Jim, the security guard. His entire chest and stomach were crisped with second degree burns. His legs had minor first degree burns, and his arms as well. Johnny worked to find a pulse. "I don't know if…wait!" Johnny found the vein and watched his watch.

"Rampart, this is 51." Roy picked up the phone. "We have a male victim, approximately…35. He has third degree burns on his back, and second degree burns on his chest and stomach. His arms and legs have minor burns, nothing serious."

"Start an IV with saline, and apply a burn pack. Provide vitals as soon as available." Early replied over the 'phone.

"IV saline, burn pack. Acknowledged, Rampart." Roy hung up the phone and reached over to the IV case to grab the saline bottle.

The paramedics worked quickly, completing Rampart's instructions and providing the vitals. About five minutes later, the ambulance roared up and stood by as they finished it up. "I'll ride with him." Joy said. John started to object, but Roy touched his arm to stop him. "Okay. We'll meet you there."

Joy nodded, and Roy saw thanks in her eyes as she looked at him. He nodded imperceptibly.

The orderlies carefully loaded the man onto the gurney. Roy helped the other guard into the ambulance, and then put the biophone in there as well. Joy pushed herself in and slid onto the leather bench. Roy shut the doors and tapped them, signaling to the driver. The ambulance's lights whirred on and it headed off to the hospital.

"I can't believe you did that." Johnny grunted, scooping up the junk and trash and shoving it into one of the recepticles in the bay on the side of the truck.

"She's a licensed paramedic." Roy looked pointedly at him. "She needs the practice."

John grunted again and didn't say anything more as they quickly loaded up and jumped in the cab, following the ambulance.

_Squad 51, en route to Rampart._

* * *

"Hey." John greeted Joy as he stepped up to the nurse's station.

"It's all gone." Joy threw over her shoulder as he made a beeline for the coffeepot. "Sorry."

He glared at her, but didn't say anything more.

"So how's my girl working out for you?" Dixie said fondly, squeezing between Roy and Johnny to get behind her desk. She gently embraced Joy.

"Pretty well. She's a crack paramedic." Roy complimented.

"She's good." John loosely remarked, and Dix arched her eyebrow.

Joy chuckled under her breath. "He's putting up with me."

Dixie laughed, and then a paramedic's voice from the base station interrupted her. "Ah, back to work." She mock-saluted Roy and Johnny and headed over to the station. "Rampart here, go ahead."

"Should we go back to the fire?" Joy asked as they slowly made their way back down the hall to the emergency entrance/exit.

"We probably won't, unless LA calls us back. Dispatch knows we were en route to Rampart, and unless they tell us otherwise, they'll know we'll head back to the station." Roy replied. "Hey, how's those burn victims doing?"

"The first one, Tom, he's fine. Doc Early said he just had a small second degree burn area while the rest was first degree. Not bad at all. Jim, on the other hand…" Joy shook her head. "They had just shipped him up to plastic surgery. He's going to need a lot of skin replacement."

John shook his head. "That's too bad. I wonder why he caught on fire that way."

"He came out of it for a few minutes in the ambulance. He mumbled something about an explosion. It's possible they keep flammable liquids in the guard station, maybe a spark got in and started in there." Joy shrugged. She opened the passenger side door of the squad and slipped in, moving into the middle so John could get in as well. Roy started up the engine and again, the cab was quiet as they drove back to the station.

* * *

They went their separate ways after returning-Joy retrieved a book from her rucksack and curled up on the couch, beginning to read. Roy sat down at the table with the newspaper, while Johnny grabbed a cup of coffee and began drinking, watching Joy over the top of his glass.

Roy noticed this, and nudged John with his foot. He whispered, "Stop watching her like that."

John glared at him, but grabbed a piece of the paper and buried his nose in it.

The day passed as normal. The engine returned back 'home', and there were a few more minor runs…mostly kids with their limbs stuck in something and one gentleman who was positive he had a heart attack, but all that was really wrong was that he had climbed the stairs too fast and got his heart rate up.

The engine got a few calls…three trash fires, a minor kitchen fire and a false alarm brush fire.

All was as normal.

When the clock ticked to 9 o'clock, suddenly, someone remembered something.

"Um, Cap?" Chet quietly knocked on the captain's office door. Stanley straightened up and turned his chair around. "Chester. What can I do for you?"

Chet mumbled something under his breath and stepped in, uncharacteristically nervous.

"Come on Chet, out with it." Stanley urged, laying down his pen.

"Well, Cap, I'm sure that there's something I haven't been informed on, but…" Chet chewed his bottom lip. "Cap, where is she gonna sleep?"

"Who?" Stanley asked innocently, enjoying Chet's awkwardness.

Chet glanced sideways. "Miss Harris."

"Oh." Stanley made a big deal of slowing standing up, and tapping on his desk with his pen. "Her."

"Captain…" Chet quietly urged, aware that Stanley was teasing him.

"Sorry, Chet." Cap chuckled. "I talked to LA about that this morning. Temporarily, we're going to set a cot up in here, in my office, and she can sleep in her until other arrangements are made."

"Oh, okay." Chet was obviously relieved and trotted quickly back out into the rec room to quietly report his findings to Lopez.

Joy was still entrenched in her book, which was a romance/comedy novel. Mike was sitting on the other end of the couch, reading the newspaper. Johnny, Marco and Roy were sitting around the table, discussing something, and they all listened as Chet quietly reported his findings.

Joy watched them out of the corner of her eye, still pretending to read, and couldn't help feeling a bit curious. Mike didn't appear much interested, but she decided she couldn't always rely on him for outward emotional responses. He seemed very quiet and reserved.

"Alright, folks." Stanley appeared in the doorway of the rec room. "If the alarm does not interrupt us before we're done, we probably should start heading to bed."

The men complied, heading for their dormroom, while Joy headed to Stanley's office. The cap helped her set the cot up, and then closed the door, leaving her privacy. She quickly set her turnout gear where she could easily slip into it at the blink of an eye. Next, she unbuttoned her uniform shirt and pulled a regular t-shirt on. Before jumping into bed, she took off her boots and pants, and then crawled quickly under the blanket.

The night was uneventful as well. No structure fires at 3am in the morning. The engine got a trash fire and the squad got a call that turned out to be a false alarm.

"Is this normal?" Joy said, rubbing her elbow where she had accidentally bumped it on the doorway of the small house.

"False alarms? Yes." Johnny said, leaning over the dashboard as he filled out the report.

Joy rubbed her eyes. "I guess we just didn't get much of them up at 232. If we got an alarm, it was a real one."

Roy chuckled. "You'll get used to it. There are thousands of people in LA, and almost every night, someone bumps their nose and thinks it's broken or has a chest pain and thinks that they're having a heart attack. The question is if we'll get called or not."

Joy sighed. "I suppose I'll get used to it." She half-grinned at him, and leaned back against the seat, staring up at the roof of the squad as it headed down the dark street.

* * *

_Hope you liked it! :) I don't know when the next chapter will be coming. Maybe in the next few days, but no promises. _


	4. Chapter 4

What you've all been waiting for! Finally! Hope you like it. It felt a little disconnected/disjointed in parts, but I didn't know how to make it any better. :-/

* * *

Chapter four

B-shift took over at 6:30am. Joy drove to her grandmother's home, whom she was temporarily staying with until she got an apartment. Her grandma lived about twenty-five minutes from Station 51. Chet had awkwardly offered to give her a lift, but Joy pointed out that her car was parked in the back, and inwardly grinned when he looked extremely relieved.

"Joy!" Gramma embraced her as soon as she stepped through the door. "Oh, sweetie, it's so good to see you."  
Joy grinned and hugged her back. She sighed to smell Gramma's familiar snickerdoodle scent on the lady's old cotton dress. "You too, Gramma."  
"Come in, come in." Gramma eagerly said. "I just baked up a batch of fresh snickerdoodles."

Joy was about to say that she shouldn't have gone to the trouble, but decided against it, since Gramma would have considered it a grave insult if she didn't applaud the cookies. "Thank you, Gramma. You know how I love your snickerdoodles."

Gramma led her granddaughter into the kitchen, and picked two of the sugary cookies off the tray and put them on a delicately painted china plate and set them in front of Joy. "Here you go, sweetheart. Now you set yourself down and tell me all about this new pair-ee-medic business."  
"It's paramedic, Gramma. Well, I guess it's going alright." Joy pulled out a chair and set her purse and bag down next to it and took a bite of the luscious cookie. "The firefighters still act really awkward around me. One of them won't stop _staring_ at me!"

Gramma leaned forward and confidentially whispered, "I bet he likes you."

Joy shot a sharp, surprised look at her. "Gramma!"

The old lady shrugged her shoulders, but sat back with a superior look on her face. "You'll have to get used to it, sweetie. You're the first woman in the LA County Fire Department. You're bound to get more than a few strange looks."

Joy nibbled on the cookie. "I know. But I guess I had a bit of a distorted view…they would think it would be strange for about five minutes, then they would see my 'superior paramedical abilities' and they would treat me like normal."

Gramma looked at her over the top of her glasses.

"I know, I said it was distorted." Joy said, holding up her hands in defeat. "It was practically the direct opposite. This morning, Chet Kelley stuttered all over himself trying to ask if I wanted a car ride home." She shook her head.

Gramma grinned. "Look at this way, honey. Those six guys are used to the fire department being their space. No women. That's the one place that they can act like themselves. Then, you come along, and now they have to act like gentleman all the time. They're used to being able to let down their guard, so to speak, at the station. Now, they can't."

Joy nodded. "You're almost making me regret this whole firefighter-paramedic business."

"Whoa, hold your horses, there. That's not my intention at all. I think it's wonderful that you're taking the incentive and doing what dozens of other women haven't been able to. But you just have to make sure to let those men take you at their pace, not yours. They have to get used to you."

Joy nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I think I can do that." She took another bite of the cookie. "I'll look at this way…I only have one day with them, and then I have the other two with you and your snickerdoodles." She grinned widely at her grandmother, who responsded with a hearty chuckle.

* * *

The two days off went by quickly. Gramma dragged Joy along shopping and Joy was surprised how much she enjoyed it. She always had associated shopping as a girly-girl activity, and she was still wearing the same jeans she had three years ago. She enjoyed the warm meals every night, which were always delicious.

She hated having to get up and leave Wednesday morning for the station. Gramma had packed her a lunch and left it in the fridge, with a note attached.

_Don't forget –_

_Let them take you at their pace. Don't push._

_I love you, sweetheart._

_Gramma_

Joy re-read the short note several times before touching the familiar handwriting and tucking the paper bag into her overnight bag.

She arrived at the station right on time. All of the firefighters sans Johnny were there already.

"Where's Johnny?" She asked, coming out of the locker room after swiftly changing into her uniform.

Roy shrugged. "He's normally late."

Joy nodded, and went over and curled up on the far left side of the couch, opening up the book she had brought with her, and began reading.

Or…pretending to read. It was less awkward than doing nothing. She read the same sentence four times before realizing what it meant.

"Hi, guys." Johnny jogged into the rec room. He sounded harried. "I'm sorry, really I am, Cap." Stanley stood from the table. "What's your excuse this time, John?"

Johnny glanced around, and then grinned crookedly at him. "I'll come up with one." He quickly escaped to the locker room before the cap could question him further.

Joy bit back her smile…she would never admit it, but Johnny was a…a tiny bit cute when he grinned like that.

A tiny bit.

Before she could think of anything else, the alarm sounded.

_Station 51. Possible heart attack. 410 Montgomery Avenue. 410 Montgomery Avenue. Cross road, Belmont. _

"Station 51, KMG365." Captain Stanley said. Johnny came half-hopping out of the locker room, pulling on his shoe and with his shirt half-unbuttoned. Joy slid into the squad next to Roy, and Johnny jumped in next to her, buttoning up his shirt and tying his boots.

Stanley passed a piece of paper with the rescue info on it through the window to Roy who passed it to Joy, and then the squad's engine roared to life and station 51 rode out of the station.

* * *

They got to the house about 10 minutes later. A woman was standing outside, waving wildly. "Oh, please, please, hurry!" She pulled a housecoat around herself tighter with one hand while descending the stone steps to the street level. "Please, please, it's my husband…he says he's having a heart attack."

"Alright, ma'am, we'll be right in." Roy said. The paramedics lifted their equipment from the bays on the side of the squad and followed the harried woman up the stairs. The captain and Chet followed as well, leaving Marco and Mike back with the engine.

"Oh! Oh!" An older gentleman, probably around 50 years old, was sprawled out on a chair, groaning. "Oh, my chest."

"Hey now, hey now, calm down. Take it easy." Johnny said, kneeling down next to the man. He reached for his wrist and began taking the man's pulse, watching his watch.

"Try and take slow breaths, if you can." Joy said, reaching out and placing a hand on the man's diaphragm.

"Pulse is 120." Johnny said.

"Respiration is 42." Joy said a couple seconds later. Roy wrote all these down and ran into Rampart. He relayed the vitals to them, as Johnny took the blood pressure.

"150 over 90." John said, quietly.

"Oh, oh, it's my heart, I know it is, I'm going to die, oh, dear Lord!" The man hollered.

"Sir, sir, please, take it easy. We don't know if it's your heart." Johnny spoke in low tones to him as Roy turned to the man's wife. "How long has he been like this?"

"Oh, thirty minutes. The pains came on real sudden like." She wrung her hands. "Is it his heart? You can tell me. I used to be a candy striper when I was fifteen."

Roy nodded slowly. Joy rolled her eyes, pretending to be busy, checking the man's reflexes.

"Listen, does he take any drugs or anything like that?" Johnny asked, standing up and moving over next to Roy.

"Oh, uh…no, no, not that I know of." The woman shrugged. "Listen, I've only been married to him for about two weeks. I'm his second wife. We met over in the Bahamas, and…"

"Yes, ma'am, thank you." Roy moved over to talk to the Captain. "I don't think he's having a heart attack. It's probably just stress related." Johnny moved over next to them as well, their backs to Joy and the man. They talked in low tones, when suddenly, a huge groan made them spin around. Joy had been talking to the woman, and when they all turned, they saw the old man, crumpled on the ground.

* * *

_There's one more chapter after this one, and it's almost done, so it'll be coming today or tomorrow. Like I said earlier, this chapter seemed a little disjointed to me in parts. Hope ya'll like it okay._


	5. Chapter 5

_I was going to make you wait a bit longer, but** I **couldn't wait any longer. so here ya go...the final chapter!_

* * *

Chapter 5

Joy instantly dropped down next to the collapsed man. Johnny and Roy joined her just a couple seconds later. The three paramedics adjusted the man so he was laying flat on his back.

"I'll go get the IV box." Roy called out, and pushed himself to his feet, rushing out the door.

"He must've fainted. He said his chest pains weren't excruciating." John said, reaching forward to take his pulse, but Joy beat him to it.

Johnny worked around her, yanking the man's shirt open, popping several buttons off in the process, and then reached over and grabbed the defibrillator box and lifted it over, opening it up and turning it on. He took out the paddles.

"It's cardiac arrest." Joy's voice was sharp as a sword. She grabbed the paddles out of Johnny's hands. "He doesn't have a pulse."

"Joy…" Johnny reached for them but she had already jabbed the charge button. "I know this, John! Dr. Brackett himself said I had an exceptional ability when it came to cardiac arrests." Joy placed the paddles on the points on the man's chest and side.

"JOY!" Johnny's sharp voice finally dug into her brain and she looked up at him.

"Look. At. The. Screen." His voice was low and hard.

Joy looked at it and her skin grew clammy, and she felt ill.

Sinus tachycardia.

Clear on the screen as anything. She had almost sent 400 volts of electricity through a man to restart his heart that wasn't dead. She would have overloaded his heart and killed him right then and there.

Joy dropped the paddles to the side. Johnny pushed the de-charge button and the voltage went back down to 0. He lifted the paddles back up and held them again to the man's chest and side. "Sinus tachycardia." He called out. Roy appeared in the doorway with the IV box. Joy slowly pushed herself to her feet and backed away.

"Joy!"

Roy's voice made her jump and she spun around. Roy looked into her face and was surprised to see the fear that was written across it.

Before he could catch her, she pushed past him and was out the door.

"What the hell happened?" Roy asked.

Johnny looked down at the paddles in his hands. "She almost de-fibbed a victim who was in sinus tachycardia."

Roy dropped to his knees. "What…"

"This man has so much fat on his neck it really is hard to tell if he has a pulse but…" Johnny closed his eyes briefly. "Alright, we need to get back on track." He picked up the biophone and slipped into professional mode, relaying information to the hospital.

* * *

Joy didn't really know where she was going. She heard someone from the engine crew call her name but she ignored them. She just kept on going until she got the squad. She yanked open the door, scrambled in, slammed the door, and melted. Her tears came so hard they racked her body with sobs, her stomach and chest heaving. She curled up on the seat, rebuking and chastising herself in her mind. "God, Joy, what the hell were you doing?" She gasped out. "You almost killed that man." She sobbed more in response to her own accusations and shook her head hard from side to side. Maybe she wasn't made for this. Maybe all those guys who thought that this was a man's business and it should stay a man's business were right. But somehow she knew that wasn't right. She only cried hard for about two minutes, and her sobs slowly subsided into hiccups, and then silence. She heard the ambulance come up behind the squad and back into the driveway. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach and swallowed hard as bile came up her throat. "Oh, brother." She couldn't help muttering, as her hand clapped over her mouth and she fought to keep it down and stay focused.

It didn't happen. She threw open the door and emptied her breakfast into a convenient storm drain right outside the door. With thankfulness she saw that the engine crew was still on the opposite side and didn't see her lose her breakfast.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she pulled herself back in and stared at the dash of the squad.

After taking a few more deep breaths, she pushed the door open again and carefully stepped over the drain onto the curb. Her legs shook and she leaned against the squad, watching as the victim was wheeled out on a gurney and loaded into the ambulance. She regretfully saw that Roy was going to ride, which meant she had an awkward fifteen minute car ride with John. Silent as a mouse, she stepped up to the ambulance and took the heavy IV case with her left hand. She could tell that Johnny was slightly surprised to see her out of hiding, but she ignored him as she tramped back to the squad, put the case in the bay, and then scrambled in the passenger side.

John slipped into the driver's side a few seconds later and started up the engine and siren. He reached over and picked up the CB mic. "Squad 51, en route to Rampart Emergency."

_Squad 51._ The dispatcher replied.

After about three minutes of awkward silence, Joy took a deep breath and turned to Johnny. "I'm sorry. I was so full of myself I thought I could tell if a man was in v-fib or not. I can't. I know I almost killed him and…"  
"Everyone makes mistakes." Johnny cut her off, turning the wheel to the left.

"Would you please let me finish?" Joy said. "I've spent twenty minutes rehearsing this and you're not helping anything."  
A tiny smile tugged at the edge of Johnny's lips.

An equally tiny corner of Joy's brain thought, "_Huh. He_ is_ cute, isn't he?_" but she quickly erased it and focused it back on her original thought.

"This is a promise to you. And everyone else. That chip I had on my shoulder?" Joy made a big show of brushing off her left shoulder. "It's gone. My… my big head was interfering with my work. No more."

John smiled over at her, and put his right arm over the back of the seat, letting his hand squeeze her left shoulder. "I'm glad to hear it."

"But one thing." Joy lifted up a finger before he could say more. "Please, stop staring at me."  
"Staring at you?" John awkwardly removed his arm and made a big show of focusing on the road.

"Yes." Joy pointedly said, scooting over a little closer. "You always seem like when you're not doing something else, you're staring at me. It's a little unnerving."  
Johnny chuckled, and then sighed. "Alright. I promise I'll try not to anymore."  
"Why were you doing it in the first place?"

"I think it was more of an unconscious reaction than anything." John admitted. "Seeing a woman in that particular uniform is…weird."

"Thanks."  
"You're welcome." He retorted instantly. Then, quickly changing the subject, he continued. "But you know something? I think, back when you first walked in the door at the station 3 days ago, no one actually said 'welcome'."

Joy looked down at her hands that were intertwined in her lap, and grinned.

"I'm serious!" John said. "No one actually said, 'Welcome to Station 51'. If you had been a man that would've been the first thing we would have done. So…" John reached over and placed a hand on Joy's shoulder, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Welcome to station 51."

Joy grinned widely at him. "Thank you."

They both turned back, watching the lights on the ambulance ahead of them, and a small smile spread on Joy's lips.

_Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all._

**THE END**

**(for now)**

* * *

_Yep, so the end of the story! Whoo whoo! I actually wrote this chapter before I wrote chapter four. :-) There will be more stories with Joy in them, so that part isn't over by any means._

_I have some ideas already, and I've written a few scenes, I just need to write stories to go around them. Haha, that's the worst part. I can come up with tons and tons of one-shots, but they don't have any introduction or anything. soooo...yep! guess that's it! I've enjoyed posting this and reading everyone's reviews. Ya'll are so nice. :-)_


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